Memory, emotional processing, pain, hunger, and a myriad of other critical bodily functions all occur due to molecules that have a structural similarity to the cannabis plant— the endocannabinoids. A recent discovery highlights the importance of a new brain system, the endocannabinoid system (ECS), as it controls the vital functions listed above. Currently the ECS is being heavily researched for novel drug development.
In the ECS there are two cannabinoid receptor types— CB1 and CB2. CB1 receptors outnumber many other kinds of receptors in the brain and guide brain activity by regulating hunger, arousal, or temperature feedback loops. CB2 receptors are found in immune tissues, as it manages immune function by modulating intestinal inflammation, contractions, and pain in inflammatory bowel conditions. Unlike CB1 receptors, CB2 has been of higher interest to pharmaceutical companies because stimulating these receptor sites do not cause the high associated with cannabis use.
Frequent users of cannabis suffer with short term memory problems, so how can our CB receptors prove to be of use towards learning and memory? Author of The Botany of Desire, Micheal Pollan, explains that human brains become overloaded with stimulus that the act of forgetting becomes a very useful skill, so that receptors do not become overworked. Additionally, those who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder can greatly improve from ECS targeted drugs.
“The munchies” is a well known feeling of intense hunger that occurs with those who use cannabis, as CB1 receptors are stimulated. Not only does the ECS manage hunger cues, it also regulates mood. During the big American push to lower obesity rates, the drug rimonabant was distributed because it was known to block the ECS’s CB1 hunger receptors. Shortly after it was distributed, the drug was recalled due to rimonabant’s effect on the users’ mood— many users became suicidal. Knowing the full capabilities of the ECS, drug developers are now trying to manufacture a weight loss drug that inhibits the hunger cues from CB1 receptors without acting upon the receptors that regulate mood.
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